Gallery: Meagre cougar population rebounds in Quebec

Peter Langen / Vancouver Province.09.30.2011

This orphaned cougar kitten, which was fed by residents of Kelowna, B.C., residents following wild fires in 2004, grew into a handsome cat (three years old in this photo), with no inclination to get along with humans. Through donations from the public, the Northern Lights Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre built a large enclosure for her. (She could not be relessed back into the wild because the British Columbia government does not allow the rehabilitation of “dangerous” carnivores.)

Peter Langen / Vancouver Province.

The front paw of a cougar preserved at the Redpath Museum, in Montreal. Its claws were over one-and-a-half cm long. Usually a cougar pulls its claws in while walking.(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

Dolly the Quarter horse shows her scars from a cougar attack that occurred near South Stukely, 100 km southeast of Montreal, on Monday, July 18, 2011. Cougar sightings have become more frequent in Quebec over the last 20 years. With large expanses of forest for cover and plenty of prey, in the form of deer, the cougar has all it needs to survive.KATHRYN PICKEN

Celine Picken snuggles with her horse Dolly, on the family property near South Stukely, 100 km southeast of Montreal, in the Eastern Townships, Saturday, September 10, 2011. Dolly was injured in the neck, head and eye area in July when a cougar attacked it in a wood lot next to the corral. Though the wounds have healed, she still bears the scars. One is visible over her right eyebrow.(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

Astrid Vik Stronen, a Université de Montréal post doctoral student, works in the lab where samples of potential cougar evidence are analyzed for DNA, in Montreal, Monday, September 26, 2011. Stronen is researching the genetics of wolves.(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

Genevieve Bouthot, a Wildlife technician for the conservation group, Appalachian Corridor Appalachien (ACA), sprays female cougar urine onto a tree stump to attract other cougars to a nearby cougar bait post covered in Velcro that can snare cougar hairs. She is in a forest near Mansonville,110 km southeast of Montreal, in the Eastern Townships, Friday, September 9, 2011. The ACA monitors checks three posts in the region, once a month, for any evidence of cougar hair and to add more urine. Bouthot calls the urine cougar perfume.'(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

Wildlife technician for the conservation group, Appalachian Corridor Appalachien (ACA), Genevieve Bouthot pours female cougar urine from a bottle onto a cougar-bait post in a forest near Mansonville,110 km southeast of Montreal, in the Eastern Townships, on Friday, September 9, 2011. Bouthot calls the urine 'cougar perfume.' Once a month, the ACA checks three posts in the region for cougar hair that might have stuck to the Velcro-covered post if passing cougars were attracted by pheromones in the urine.(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

MONTREAL, QUE.: SEPTEMBER 9, 2011---Wildlife technician for the conservation group, Appalachian Corridor Appalachien (ACA), Genevieve Bouthot removes a hair from a cougar bait post, in a forest near Mansonville,110 kilometres southeast of Montreal, in the Eastern Townships, Friday, September 9, 2011.(THE GAZETTE / Robert J. Galbraith).

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